The following will NOT lead to liberation

Unfortunately, and contrary to what some teachers say, the following do NOT lead to liberation, as anyone’s own personal experience can testify:

-simply seeing ego for what it is

or

-seeing the false as false

or

-seeing the world but knowing it is illusory or false

or

-knowing yourself as the unchanging witness to all phenomena

or

-knowing yourself as the consciousness or awareness in which all (and as which all) phenomena arise

or

-merely saying or affirming based on exploring one’s experience ‘there is no person’

(Can you think of any other similar teachings that don’t work? Please let me know in the comments below…)

These are all conceptual.

If these actually worked as teachings, many more would be liberated very quickly.

Even if there is some genuine experiential understanding, it is still ultimately mind-understanding or ego-understanding and not at all the true spiritual knowledge (which has nothing to do with the mind or thought or even the body, all of which are time-bound).

At best these can alleviate suffering, but not abolish it entirely, which only occurs with genuine liberation.

What is needed is to actually turn away from objective phenomena (towards the Self). You will find that unless this is done, the suffering and the sense of being an individual person keeps on returning no matter how hard you try.

Has this been your experience too?

🙏🙏🙏

One thought on “The following will NOT lead to liberation

  1. Thanks Tom.

    If seeing the ego for what it is or seeing the false as false etc is part of the process which ultimately leads to turning away from objective phenomena and towards the Self, even though these items by themselves do not liberate, but help lead to the action that does, are they not considered useful to that end?

    Similar to the fact that reading a book about self enquiry will not liberate but points at a path that does, then the book is useful to that end. But only the actual practice/ action of self enquiry will lead to liberation.

    Like

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